8-9 per cent polling till 10 am in 3 Bihar seats

An estimated eight to nine per cent voters exercised their franchise till 10 am in the three parliamentary constituencies where polling is being held in the fourth and final round of elections in Bihar.

An estimated eight to nine per cent voters exercised their franchise till 10 am in the three parliamentary constituencies where polling is being held in the fourth and final round of elections in Bihar.

The constituencies where polling is in progress are Pataliputra, Patna Saheb and Nalanda. No untoward incident has been reported from anywhere so far, ADG Police (Headquarters) Neelmani said.

However, voting was delayed at booth no: 24, 13 And 48 in Patna Saheb constituency and polling station no: 82 And 83 in Pataliputra constituency for some time due to faulty electronic voting machines, state Election Office sources said. The EVMs were promptly replaced and voting progressed smoothly.

There were reports of boycott of the election at nearly a dozen polling stations in Nalanda constituency.

RJD president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi, son Tej Pratap and one of the daughters of the couple cast their votes at a polling station on the Veterinary College campus.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken Danapur-Rajgir passenger train for Bakhtiarpur where he will exercise his franchise.

Prominent among those in fray are Lalu Prasad (Pataliputra) and actor-politicians Shatrughan Sinha and Shekhar Suman (Patna Saheb).